HOW TO MAKE COLOR COPIES WITH YOUR BANDSAW

Welcome to my shop. Yes, today I will show you how to make color copies with your bandsaw.

1. Just take what you want copied and place into your bandsaw blade like this.

2. Now push it slowly through to the other side of the blade like this.

3. Separate and now you have a perfect copy! Well, book matched anyway, nothing is perfect.

This is the outcome after some hand sanding with 80 grit paper. I rubbed on some ethanol to bring out the colors, but it evaporated so fast that the first one on the right was almost dry before I took the pic.

HOW THIS WAS DONETwo 1/2” birch Plywood panels were glued to both sides of my dragon marquetry which was about 1/4” thick. I pressed the lamination in my newly finished veneer press .

REMAINING WORKCounter veneers still have to be glued onto the backside of each copy to prevent warping. I plan to do that tomorrow so it can dry while I clean.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Paul ‘Shipwright’ advised me to sandwich the dragon between two platters before resawing. This advice virtually guaranteed a good outcome. The cut went perfectly and I’m sure this was due to the sandwich. I will (almost) always heed any woodworking advice from someone who can build beautiful yachts and master marquetry, as Paul has done! Many thanks Paul!

I am equally indebted to Mathew Nedeljko another marquetry master who shared his veneer press in an excellent blog and which I unashamedly copied. He was also kind enough to supply me with the dimensions and his good wishes. It made the glue-up quite easy! Much thanks Mathew!

My wife has been pleading with me not to attempt this resaw after using so much time to make the dragon. However, I never had a doubt that it would go perfectly well. That dryness in my mouth just before beginning the cut was probably just due to a little dust in the shop!

WHAT’S NEXT?A finish has to be decided on. I honestly don’t know what would be be best. I want to use something that will enhance the colors and provide good contrast. Any suggestions are welcome.

Frames have to be made for the dragons and then I have to decide who to give one of them to. That will be a little difficult because I really don’t have any favorites in the family. They are all quite lovable. I would like to keep the other since I like it and I’m a little proud of it too, especially since I used a somewhat unconventional method to produce it, and though it isn’t that special, it is good enough to have given me the confidence to go further with this kind of work.

But before doing the finishing and frames, I am dying to show you all the stuff that I’ve purchased just to get started with marquetry. I plan to do that in my next blog in this series. But first I have to clean up the shop a bit. A woodworkers work is never done!

Thank you for joining in and I hope you found something interesting or at least informative here.

32 comments so far

yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!ya whooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, im so happy all went well. i was really scared with the cut, but you and paul did it, thank you all for the help you gave to mike. but mainly thank you mike, you did a project that was sorta stacked against you , and you made it happen..and now you have two beautiful dragons…congrats mike…now i can sleep…lol…grizz

Thank you Grizz, David and Bob. The bowl idea is good David, thanks for the suggestion. Right now I am leaning towards my son in Sweden. We plan to spend quite a long time with them in Sweden and I though it might be a nice thank you gift to them, especially since they like all that fantasy stuff. I am also hoping I can teach my son to do some marquetry work while we’re there. That is if I can learn it myself before our visit.

Mike it took me a while to look, I found the thought of cutting such wonderful piece terrifying. I might have been tempted to follow yourWife’s thoughts.Very well done Mike and thank you for sharing the whole process as always it was very educational.I look forward to your next adventure

Jamie

-- Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, and in their pleasure takes joy, even as though 'twere his own. --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Mike,I’m so happy that your color copy turned out as planned. It’s Grand to say the least! I would of been up all night just thinking about that cut. All I can think is WOW you did it! I’m glad you had the support you needed to accomplish this beautiful work. My hats off to you Mike and all that helped you, Congratulations!

-- Tony C St Augustine FL, My high school shop teacher said "You can do it"... Now I can't stop!

Mike, as someone who likes to re-invent the wheel as much as the next guy (at least as much) I fully understand and applaud your re-invention of the venerable art of marquetry. Who could argue with these results.

You have planned, designed and executed a whole process that has worked out perfectly and you have every right to be as proud of it as any peacock. My hat is off to you my friend, Bravo.

For a finish, IMHO you can’t beat simple shellac.

-- Paul M ..............If God wanted us to have fiberglass boats he would have given us fiberglass trees. http://prmdesigns.com/

Just do it, right Mike!?After all, what could go wrong?If the cut goes off or wanders, you’d only be out ??? hours and days worth of work, thought, and planning… :)You’ve got Nerves of Steel my Friend!!Great Job on the “Twins”, and thanks for taking us all along for the journey!!